My Grandfathers Notes on His Journey Into "Complete Cognitive Deficiency"

In 2013 my grandfather, Joe Brosso, died of Alzheimer's. The day before he died my uncle found a file on his computer desktop titled "Open Often". Inside were the following entries

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It was very much like Joe to want to learn anything he didn't fully understand and to hopefully help people in the process. It'll be 2 years since losing him and I still revisit these entries from time to time. I can hear his voice as I read the words

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"I've tacked six years on to my current age of 72 and wound up with 78 and figure if I'm lucky that's when I will die"

I totally lose it at that part. He was 79 when he died.

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"I am not too concerned about the three word test, because I once tried it on Jean and she flunked it"

My grandfather was always a funny man up until he could no longer speak. Being able to laugh at his jokes again was the best gift I could have been given.

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"I found out it costs a lot to keep your brain from turning into scrambled eggs"